The present invention relates to the field of portable radio antennae, and, more particularly, to an antenna having a base suitable for support in a fishing rodholder or for hand held use.
In recent years there has been a steady growth in the boating accessory field, including that of two way radios. Marine two way radios, or transceivers, have sold particularly well since the Jan. 1, 1977 deadline for discontinuing use of double side band transceivers and the shift over to very high frequency - frequency modulated (hereinafter VHF) marine radios. At the same time, there has been an explosive expansion in the sales and use of citizen's band (hereinafter CB) transceivers. Particularly because of the size of the CB market, there has come, among other things, a companion increase in the market for CB accessories aimed at broadening the variety of circumstances in which the CB can be appropriately used and improving upon the utility and convenience of use. For example, CB transceivers are increasingly used in marine applications, particularly in relatively small pleasure craft and fishing boats. Moreover, because CB has a ground-wave component that causes it to follow the earth's curvature (as opposed to line-of-sight VHF), it potentially has a greater range than VHF and the use of CB in marine applications is likely to continue increasing, particularly since the recent Coast Guard announcement of its intent to monitor a CB channel.
However, with the widespread ownership and use of CB radios has come extensive and indiscriminate theft of equipment, leading many owners to mount their automobile transceivers on accessory devices for rapid removal and storage when not in use. CB transceiver antennae on automobiles also are available in models permitting removal and storage of the antenna itself, and also, sometimes of the mounting. To applicant's knowledge, there is no such removable antenna available for marine use, the closest known art being Mortensen et al, U.S. Letters Pat. No. 3,886,560, which permits a permanently mounted marine antenna to be lowered to a horizontal position. Of course, portable radios are equipped with at least one portable antenna. One such device, bearing superficial resemblance to the present invention, is described by Francis, U.S. Letters Pat. No. 2,927,955, which is a reception only radio contained in the handle of a light weight fishing rod.
In small boats, there is frequently no effective way to lock up items subject to theft, as radio equipment. One obvious solution is to utilize in boats the same type of accessory devices used to removably mount CB transceivers in automobiles. In fact, CB transceivers removably mounted in automobiles can be readily used with a similar mount on boats. But there appears to have been little attention devoted to a removable CB antenna intended primarily for general marine use, but with suitability for any portable application, such as a beach buggy, camp sites, rental outboard boats, and the like, and with a general design also appropriate to VHF use. Moreover, regardless of their purpose, most small boats, beach buggies, etc. are equipped with well known tubular fishing rodholders. Such rodholders can provide an immediate cost free appliance upon which a readily removable radio antenna can be mounted.